I guess the key point is, SC hunters should definitely read and familiarize themselves with the regs (thoroughly) before heading out.

I agree with you Phillip about night hunting being another great management tool for feral pigs. Thats why this law is a bit confusing to me. Only allowing iron site sidearms for night hunting means you can only hunt with dogs…Most of the dog runners I’ve met don’t even carry a gun while running dogs for pigs. They prefer to catch, tie, and knife (or release if male…) the pig.

Also, the press release doesn’t say anything about not using bows.

I like this description here; I found it really helpful.

Only that most of what I’m seeing with my own eyes is either minimal or even non-existent (e.g. turkey and quail abundance in prime hog areas). And the rooting I’ve seen may very well play a positive role as ground disturbance (in lieu of wildfire, grizzly bears, etc.). What I’m not seeing personally, or even reading about, is general destruction on the scale that warrants outright eradication or extreme, large scale measures.

I think part of my problem in this discussion is that I get caught up in the whole angle that, if you want to point fingers at ecological devastation caused by invasive, non-native species, there’s one, single species out there that is still growing uncontrolled and unchecked across the global landscape. Feral hogs may be doing some damage, but that damage pales in comparison to the devastation wrought by livestock, agriculture, and development. If folks are so concerned about non-native species destroying public land, let’s get cattle and sheep off of them… and then worry about the feral hogs.

See where this goes?

In the meantime, I get a little fed up by the damning hyperbole directed at wild hogs. They’re not a threat to public safety (pet dogs injure and kill more people). They’re not turning ecosystems into sterile deserts (they’ve been in Hawaii for over a thousand years with definite impacts, but they haven’t denuded the islands by a long shot). And finally, short of a hugely expensive, perfectly coordinated, national extermination program, efforts at eradication are doomed to failure.

We do need sensible management and control, and I agree with regulations like the one SC just passed, that ban the trapping and relocation/release of feral hogs. I agree with policies like those in CO, whereby hunters can kill feral hogs on sight, but no one can benefit financially from it (no guiding, outfitting, tresspass fees, etc.). I even believe in taking fairly extreme measures to protect specific, sensitive ecological areas.

I also feel like farmers and ranchers are right to be concerned, and should be empowered to take action to protect their investments. There’s no doubt or question that hogs destroy crops and pose a realistic disease threat to livestock. This is why I agree with things like night shooting, trapping, and aerial shooting.

I’ll drop it now, because all of this is pretty much total repetition of everything I’ve said before… many times.

However, both studies point out that all of our natural systems are island-like: For example, hogs disturb tremendous amounts of very specific ecosystems, as do elk and grizzlies. How many times have you come across a spot that the pigs had rooted out, while all around that spot the land is nearly untouched? Also, invading predators that get fed by other non-native systems occur outside of islands, too (I’m thinking of ravens and coyotes in the California desert living off of trash, and then adversely impacting desert tortoises). So even though the second study was an extreme case, extreme cases often help illuminate types of processes that may be occurring in other places. Neither of these studies are condemning of pigs, in general, but I thought you might find them interesting, nonetheless.

To me, that’s like saying that second hand smoke is a primary cause of cancer and lung disease in the Bay Area, without ever mentioning that, on several days each year, I can SEE the air I’m breathing and that has very little to do with cigarettes.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119251330/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

&

http://tinyurl.com/2udvcb9
(URL edited by Phillip Loughlin)

The second one talks about pigs as an impact on fox populations on the Channel Islands, but in a very unusual way.

On the night hunting, I’m a tad concerned, and I think I’d like to see a law that would require some experienced person go along, too. Shooting from roads is illegal, and so folks will need to go traipsing off into the dark nights, and yet still keep their geographic wits about them. Perceptions at night change dramatically, especially with the effects of lighting, and few people have real experience with night vision equipment. I completely agree that night hunting is the only real way to start controlling pigs, but I don’t think I yet trust the public to do it right – and I think the media fallout from some yayhoos here might do us more harm.